Tag Archives: quotes about MK

Published last month in Old Wyves’ Tales are excerpts from the memoirs of Chris Lowe, the head of English at City of Leicester Boys Grammar School while Michael Kitchen was in attendance:

I suppose my most famous pupil was Michael Kitchen, who became a star of the Royal Shakespeare Company in the seventies and eventually starred in the TV series Foyle’s War. He was a marvellous actor even at school, and a natural for RADA where he went at eighteen. His style was, and is, to play himself then subtly transmogify that into the character he was playing. It is very understated, but brilliantly done. One day Mary (Presumably Mrs Lowe?) and I took the fourteen-year-old Michael to the RSC costume department in Stratford On Avon to choose a pile of Shakespearean costumes for the school play. I don’t suppose it had any dramatic effect on him, but it did to us! We have followed Michael’s career with great interest and he was kind enough to meet your daddy, Simon, backstage at the National Theatre when he was but a slip of a teenager.

In the second part (To Play the King), Michael Kitchen did IMO a helluva good job as the Prince of Wales/King; this was in 1993. I just looked him up; he’s almost exactly the same age as the PoW. I’m thinking he might be a good choice for the PoW in the final (old guy) stretch of The Crown.

With award season around the corner, I wonder if anyone’s campaigning for “the coveted Michael Kitchen Award for the Most Watchable Performance in a Second-Rate Drama”, first handed out 8 years ago today by Times critic, David Chater. (Later that year (July 24, 2010), Chater tweaked the name, calling it instead the “Michael Kitchen Award for the Best Performance in an Eminently Forgettable Drama Series” when describing how another actor “just like Michael Kitchen … performs the written text while appearing to listen to a complex internal dialogue going on inside his head”.)

One of my favorite character actors is Michael Kitchen, now probably best known for playing Foyle in the Foyle’s War series, but he’s played villains, romantic leads, supporting grey-moraled characters, etc. and he always always turns his characters into real people living in the present moment. It’s like you can see him going through the process of making decisions (as the character), you can see him thinking and having mental revelations and shifting loyalties and all other sorts of dynamic internal processes that real people have in their daily lives. All of his body language and facial expressions seem like personal quirks of that particular character occurring organically in the moment, rather than gestures called for by the script.

I’ve never seen him be himself in an interview, and I couldn’t begin to tell you what the guy is like in real life because he so completely disappears into his roles and makes them feel like real, distinct, individual living people. Is he gregarious and charming? Is he quiet and cold? Who knows?

Also, take the character of Foyle for a moment — the character is emotionally very guarded and more cerebral. Michael Kitchen can be standing there with a poker face and (in-character) convey nothing, but to the audience, you somehow know exactly what’s going on in his head. He’s working on two levels.

Love this take on Michael Kitchen and his acting. I do hope we haven’t seen the last of his mastery on screen, as he seems to have vanished altogether of late. Wherever he is and whatever he’s doing, here’s hoping he’s enjoying a very happy birthday today.

Peter Hall was also co-director, albeit a mostly absent one, with Alan Ayckbourn for the latter’s hit comedy play, Bedroom Farce, in which Michael Kitchen was one of the six original castmembers. In this marvelous video from the National Theatre Ayckbourn talks of rehearsing the play and how all the actors doubted their own abilities in the weeks leading up to the premiere:

By the time we got to Birmingham, the cast was suicidal…

I think every single one of them, including Joan Hickson, the great Joan Hickson, and Michael Kitchen – wonderful cast – they all came up to me and said, “I know I wasn’t the first choice*. Uh, but, uh, I want you to know that I’m- I’m rotten at comedy. I’ve never- I’ve never liked doing comedy. Uh, and uh, I was so sorry, I’m letting down your play, and uh, I’m rubbish.”

*Ralph Richardson and Peggy Ashcroft were on the original wish-list.

Hard to imagine that Michael Kitchen with his superb comic timing once thought he couldn’t do comedy. It hadn’t occurred to me that Bedroom Farce was indeed his first major foray into comedy. Thank goodness the Birmingham audience went barmy on opening night and Michael Kitchen went on to many more roles that showcased his comedic talents.

Peter Capaldi plays the communist leader Foyle is ordered to investigate in A War of Nerves. Who will be the next Doctor Who? Came across some discussion from 1996 about how Michael Kitchen would have made a good Doctor.

Catching up on S5 of Suits and surprised to find a Foyle’s War alum has joined the cast. Who can forget Christina Cole as Violet, Andrew’s fresh conquest who belatedly comes to realize that she has divulged details of her love life to none other than her presumed fiance’s father? Love Michael Kitchen’s reaction in frame 4.

I had a scene with Michael when he interrogates me… Michael gave me lots of tips on the language and he was fantastic to work with. – Christina Cole (Violet); FW press pack

Michael Kitchen lived very close to where I grew up in the UK. I was awestruck when he visited my fathers farm one day on business. He was incredibly nice and signed my making of Goldeneye book for me. He did seem genuinely shocked to be recognised. This was before he become more well known in Foyles War.

Michael Kitchen visiting your family’s farm? How does one get so lucky?!

Seems that whenever I come across a mention of Michael Kitchen in the Bond franchise, there is agreement that he was a brilliant Tanner. Again from the MI6community forum, a comment that amused me:

Kitchen’s Tanner is the closest we’ve ever seen of the character being properly portrayed…
Now if I worked for MI6 and was sitting around doing bugger all I can imagine Kitchen giving me a bollocking…

Mention of the clock tower brings memories flooding back of the nearby men’s barbers shop – Ron’s. Used by a clique of the more fashionable pupils, therefore excluding myself, Ron used to sell a concoction for holding the most difficult quiff in place – Ron’s Pink. It was a pink-coloured cream, sold in a bottle bearing a black-and-white label bearing an image of Ron and the clock tower. Much favoured by Michael Kitchen, this cream set like concrete after application, resisting wind and any physical attempts to disturb the styling.and far more effective than greasy alternatives such as Brylcreem.

Michael Kitchen started at CBS in 1960 and “went from the 1st year to 3 alpha, ‘O’ levels in 1964 and ‘A’ levels in 1966”. – Old Wyves Tales – Volume 5

Weeks concedes that delaying Sam’s marriage took a bit of persuasion. “There was talk of a marriage to Foyle’s son Andrew (the R.A.F. pilot) as early as series three I think, but I fought with Anthony for years to allow Sam to remain a ‘spinster of the parish.’

On whale meat:

In one scene, food shortages reduce Sam and Adam to eating whale meat as a protein source. If she looks a bit queasy, admits Weeks, “it was because I had a very hard time not retching at the smell of those whale steaks sizzling in the pan.”

On Sam and Adam’s house:

The interiors of Sam’s house were shot in a former brewery the art department turned into a sound stage. “You could still smell that oddly yeasty aroma from the fermenting hops,” says Weeks.

And on Michael Kitchen!

Considering the seriousness of the subject matter, you might assume that the set of Foyle’s War was a reserved and quiet place, but Weeks assures it was not. “If you were to go into Michael Kitchen’s trailer at lunchtime you could hear him playing the classical guitar. Or, if we happened to be filming at some grand country house, you’d often hear him behind its equally grand piano.” …Weeks prizes her relationship with Kitchen. “He is a decidedly avuncular figure in my life and a person I often go to for professional advice.”

So that’s how MK passes the time in between takes. Doesn’t really dispel the notion of a reserved set — unless he was pounding out a rock tune… 🙂

Wonder if he had a go at this piano:

Playing the piano really should have been another one of Foyle’s pastimes.

There is a bit of wall in a staff area of the library where librarians for a time posted pictures of their favorite actors. One by one, the handsome men were replaced by beloved dogs, past and present. Eventually, only one man’s picture remained among the pooches. That actor? Michael Kitchen. Interpret this as you will, but it does seem to speak to the appeal of the distinguished Mr. Kitchen.

Would have been nice to have Hugh around beyond the first series. Speaking at the WSW London Equity Branch Meeting on December 3, 2015, Michael Simkins brought up Michael Kitchen during the Q&A:

I know that Michael Kitchen has his [nemesis] – he’s frustrated because he doesn’t get enough film parts.

As a fan, I certainly share his frustration. It would be great if he were offered not just more film parts but more substantial ones, too.

A Radio Times (Jan. 1, 1980) interview with Ian Holm recounted the actor’s difficulty in finding work after he left the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1967:

The world outside [the RSC] turned out to to be full of American film directors who took one look at him and said, “Sure, he’s a great little actor, but a bit on the short side, y’know?” None of his film roles gave him great scope…